Just a reminder: The August Prayer Booklet is available in the blog shop as a print at home PDF, and on Amazon as a paperback booklet. The first devotion for the month is Our Lady, Queen of Angels and the very cool associated Portiuncula Indulgence of St. Francis of...
Summer birthday season is happening around here. I've shared some of these photos on social media, but since not everyone is on there, I figured I'd get them on the blog here too. And since the Princess Bride Quote food pun food tags proved pretty popular with you...
Ahhh . . . movie night. It's one of the most beloved parts of our family routine. Our kids don't watch a whole lot of TV, but we do plan on watching a movie together as a family just about every week. We started off watching mostly Disney animated movies, but as the...
Okay, here it is you guys. Finally. I have been having exasperating computer issues that have been a drain on my already limited blogging time. But I just know you guys have been dying -dying- to know what I think about The Force Awakens and whether or not it's a good...
We are spending a lovely long weekend in San Diego at my parents' house, and it has been relaxing . . . yet productive. Mostly productive, I guess. I'm super bad at relaxing. But it was fun. Here's a quick look at a few things that went down. 1. The New Liturgical...
Here are some Friday Seven Quick Takes for you . . . on a Saturday. 1. I'm at Blessed is She today, reflecting on Matthew 6:25-34. You know the one . . . Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you...
The Winners This giveaway has turned out to be my favorite one ever. If you haven't been back over to read the comments . . . do it. They are so, so, so sweet. I wish you could all win. I really do. But instead, I just let random.org pick me five winning...
Movies can be a great way to bring families together, and a great way to help kids understand complicated concepts. Holy Week is an excellent time to do both of those things. So, even though we give up our family screen time during Lent, our family Holy Week...
Last week, I took just my two older daughters to see Cinderella. I liked it. A LOT. They liked it a LOT. We've all been singing Lavender's Blue pretty much nonstop ever since. I felt pretty confident recommending it to women and girls. (And I did. I recommended the...
I almost didn't go to see Disney's new Cinderella, and I certainly didn't plan to take my daughters to see it. Why? Because I saw Maleficent. Maleficent is everything that's wrong with a modern re-imagining of a classic story. It takes a tale of good vs evil and...
But then again, maybe you wouldn't. I watched a LOT of Irish movies over the past few weeks, in the hopes of finding a few to recommend for a fun St. Patrick's Day family movie night. But I found that many them made me want to throw myself into the pit of despair....
Keep reading all the way to the bottom for the winners of the two most recent Advent giveaways, and my next to last giveaway of the season, which just might help you enjoy these Netflix recommendations a little more. Speaking of that . . . As I've written about here...
Jack, how did you manage to get to see Big Hero 6 on opening night? We were driving past a billboard, and I said. "Hey Mom, that movie looks cool." And then you said, "You have a lot of money. Why don't you take us to see it?" That's not how I remember it. No, that's...
For my inaugural Netflix Stream Team sponsored post, we're going to look at the kids' Halloween-type movies streaming has available. I'm going to tell you about a few I really like, a bunch that are kinda meh, and a few that you should NOT SHOW TO YOUR CHILDREN. This...
A couple of months back the husband and I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier. (meh.) Before the movie we saw a trailer for a crazy looking comic-book-based movie featuring what appeared to be an Ent, a sexy Wicked Witch of the West, that guy from Parks...
Last month, we went to France (you can find posts about the trip here). I had grand plans about all the things I was going to accomplish on the flight. Reading, writing, embroidering, catching up on sleep, etc. I did a tiny bit of the first, and some of the last, but...
As subscribers to Lego Club Magazine AND Lego Club Junior, my boys have been breathlessly filling me in on various details of The Lego Movie for months now. I have to say, those details did not fill me with confidence. The bad guy is Lord "Business"? Only the...
Well, I finally saw Frozen. After . . . "Frozen is the most Christian movie Disney has ever made! Anna IS Jesus. Get it?" No, wait. "Frozen is the most pro-gay movie Disney has ever made! Elsa is singing about coming out! And the shopkeeper has a whole gay...
I wanted to go see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, because Iris said it was good (and made such a pretty cake). BUT that was sold out, so we went to go see the husband's first choice instead: Lone Survivor. I expected it to be a well-done war movie, and it was....
movies. It's a movie about the creative process, and the investment of creators in their creations. It's a movie about charming doggedness triumphing over crabby nitpickiness. But mostly, it's a movie about fathers. A really good movie about fathers. The Big...
If despite reading my review of the first installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, you (as I did) still held out hope for improvement and wanted to see the second movie: The Desolation of Smaug, here's what I have to say about it . . . If you like no-look...
I'll never forget reading Ender's Game in the ninth grade and realizing that, probably, like Ender, all of my own awkwardness could be solved by getting selected for battle school where I would learn that my problem the whole time was that I was just smarter and more...
--- 1 --- I see what you did there. And I like it. I hope everyone had a lovely Solemnity yesterday. We did! I really try to incorporate traditions, historical and/or from other cultures into our liturgical feasts. But there don't seem to be all that many traditions...
--- 1 --- I was so sorry to read Dwija's sad news that they lost baby Nicholas at 21 weeks along. I have felt so identified with her struggles since I am also 21 weeks pregnant. It's been such a joy to witness how she dealt with the challenges of this pregnancy with...
The husband and I left the thundering herd at home tonight and went to see Monsters University, just the two of us. In the past, we've always run right out as a family to see new Pixar films, but I was worried that the college setting of this one might prove too...
One of my least favorite children's movie conceits is the whole "Dad's an idiot, but if junior can just manage to disobey him loudly enough, he's sure to come around" thing. (See: Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, How to Train Your Dragon, Ratatouille, Happy...
--- 1 --- Back in January, when I started this here blog, I hooked it up to Amazon Associates. That means that when you click on a link from the blog that takes you to Amazon, then you buy something, I get a teeny, tiny percentage of what you spend. Now, as...
On Wednesday I told you that I thought Silver Linings Playbook had a real stinker of a message. But, since I didn't want to ruin your weekend, I also promised to suggest seven films that I think would make great date night movies. I don't recommend any of them...
Ugh. I really really really did not like this movie. And if you haven't seen it, I do not recommend that you do. But if you like movies with nudity and language and disturbing implied violence and described aberrant sexual behavior and onscreen sexual activity and...
For grownups, this movie would be worth watching just to see Merida's hair, and the dark and wild and beautiful setting. For kids . . . I have my reservations. Things you've probably heard elsewhere . . .It has magic: Yes, but fairy tales do, and that's not an...
The movies edition: Iron Man 3, Anna Karenina, Life of Pi, Looper, Wreck-It Ralph, Argo & I Confess . . . --- 1 --- Iron Man 3 Eh, it was okay, I guess, if you're looking for an action movie. I just didn't find it nearly as clever as the first Iron Man,...
So, I figured that now that I have this blog, I have a responsibility to stop waiting a month to see movies that come out. I saw that Oz the Great and Powerful was coming soon to theaters. I reread The Wonderful Wizard of Oz AND read its sequel The Marvelous Land of...
We expect a lot from our kids. We demand good behavior in church, kneeling up straight for evening prayers, and speaking up when saying the Rosary. We keep Lent (and Advent). We fast and abstain when the Pope says we're sposta. And all that's great. It's its own...
If you haven't seen the movie Les Misérables yet, you probably don't want to continue reading this. Because it has spoilers. But mostly because you should stop WHATEVER you are doing and GO SEE IT RIGHT NOW. Seriously. Quit your job. Don't pick up the kids from...
An illustration for the book by Greg Hildebrandt and Tim Hildebrandt A still from the movie. So far, so good. The Hobbit movie has gotten plenty of press for its shortcomings (and its long-drawn-out-ed-ness). Well, the husband and I saw it over the weekend and . ....